In Dallas, at an international conference of CEOs, Simon Sinek, author of Start With Why, talked about how great leaders inspire everyone to take action.

More than 100 business leaders across more than one dozen countries listened as he talked about our human drive to cooperate. While cartoons might depict CEOs as dictating from an ivory tower to workers below, nobody knows better than a good leader the importance and power that comes from people working together for a common cause.

In most companies the biggest expense is human capital. While that is not a news flash, what is surprising to many business leaders is the true cost of turnover.

Sam was hired as a sales executive with a manufacturing company. He earned a base salary of $50,000. If he made his realistic sales goals he would easily earn $100,000 or more. Martin, his sales manager, spent the first two weeks letting Sam shadow him to learn the ropes, but knew that it would be about six months before Sam would close a deal of his own.